Team LVDR (Lavender)
by Chad Emperor of Mankind
Summary: Four people with nothing in common end up in the same team whether they like it or not. One is the heiress of a PMC company. Another is the son of a miner. One has faced prejudice most of their life. And the final one is still trying to piece together his own past. Originally named Team LOVR
1. Prologue: A Brave New World

_**(Forward Note: Went back and made a change involving the equipment. Didn't like using too old equipment so I removed the M12 Vest and M1 Helmet to the PASGT Vest and Helmet)**_

 **Prologue: A Brave New World**

 **August 12th, 2115**

 **The Frontlines**

Everything was grey and brown. The land was torn apart by conflict and artillery. Tanks were rolling across rough terrain. Trees were shattered by bullets or shells. It was basically like the First World War all over. Just only in a different location. Death was pretty much everywhere here. It lurked in the trenches the two sides dug, the land between one and the enemy, the skies. It flew through the air, killing those with their heads up or those who clumped too close together. Sometimes a few would be lucky enough to get grazed by it and live to tell the tale. Others, not so much. It was a horrible scene for both sides, but they still fought either way. For one side, they were fighting to destroy their enemy permanently along with its government and its people. For the other side, it was a fight for their proud and long standing nation's survival.

The trenches on one side were crawling with Olive Drab uniform figures scrambling to hold the line against a wave of green armored tanks and brown uniformed and lizard-camo clad soldiers. The soldiers in the trenches were firing their various weapons, nearly all modern day like with black metallic paint and bodies, at the attackers. The attackers often hide behind their own tanks for cover, which made small arms fire useless against the enemy at certain points. Most soldiers in the trench wore a basic light OD uniform with combat boots, light rigging for ammo and packs, and a PASGT helmet with a light OD cover over it. The patch on their sleeves was the US Flag on one sleeve and the patch on the other was that of the 82nd All American Infantry Division.

Two American soldiers were firing an LMG at the attackers in an attempt of suppressing while several others were busy getting AT weapons or some charges. The other rapidly fired their Assault Rifles and Carbines at the attackers throughout the trench, desperate to hold back the advancing forces. A soldier rushed down the trench, often having to step over dead soldiers that had fallen back into the trench. He was carrying ammo towards one of the LMG crews that were getting low on ammo at their end. As he did, a different soldier rushed past him in the opposite direction with a few more similar to him in tow.

These Americans were no ordinary soldiers judging by their equipment and weapons. These were members of the United States Marine Corps. They wore basic light OD uniforms similar to the Army except they didn't wear the basic rigs. These men had PASGT vests in a dark green color and wore OD cloth covered PASGT helmets on their heads while one simply wore his light OD eight-point cover. The Marines had the same American Flag patch on their sleeve like the army but on the other sleeve, they had the Marine Corps Globe Eagle and Anchor emblem on the other with a red background shield.

The Marines rushed down the trench line with a few of them carrying SRAW anti-armor missile launchers to knock out some of the enemy armor. A few had to duck down when an enemy tank rolled over their trench, the treads inches from their heads. The one with the Utility cap quickly pulled out a block of some sort, armed it and stuck it on the underbelly of the tank. The tank rolled on but after moving at least a good fifty yards with its speed, it exploded in a ball of fire. The Marine grimly noted his work before continuing to follow his fellow Marines down the line. Nearby an American soldier fell onto one Marine who simply shoved him off the corpse which had a bullet through its head.

A machine gun echoed through the air amidst the sounds of tanks moving, rifle fire and explosions. Several of the brown uniformed soldiers along with a few of the Lizard camoed ones fell over as a US Machine Gun crew fired their portable medium machine gun from the far left trench. The gunner gritted his teeth while the handle of the Medium MG and the buttstock vibrated against him whenever he held down the trigger. The machine gunner was shouting over his fire at the enemy, unaware that one of the approaching tanks aimed its turret at the crew's position. The crew barely had a chance to flee or even scream as they were engulfed by the explosion created from the 90mm cannon of the enemy tank.

The Marines finally reached the position they were requested to and began to ready themselves. The Marines carrying the SRAWs armed the tubes while the others started to call out enemy tanks for them to try and target. A few of the other Marines and remaining soldiers still alive in the trenches began to suppress and/or kill any hostile infantry that was advancing with the tanks to keep the pressure off the AT crews. The Marines in question used somewhat older weaponry in comparison to the US soldiers but that didn't prevent them from doing their jobs correctly. One Marine aimed his SRAW at an enemy tank to the far right, double checking the area behind him. Once he knew no one was behind him, he fired the rocket at the target. The rocket streaked across the crater pocked grounds of No Man's Land towards the side of the hostile tank. Some of the infantry behind the tank noticed this and tried to scramble out of the way to no avail.

The rocket impacted the side of the tank, sending most of its explosive force into the interior of the tank. The crew inside were instantly killed from the blast as the flames literally ripped throughout the tank to the point it blasted the hatches open. Several soldiers that had once used the tank for cover were either blown back by the blast or laid dead on the dirt with shrapnel covering their corpses. The others who were lucky enough to survive the blast took shelter behind the now destroyed tank as the fighting intensified.

The Marine started the process of reloading as another Marine popped up with his rifle. He had a grenade launcher below the barrel which was ready to go. He carefully aimed at some enemies who were taking cover in the no man's land behind a ruined armored vehicle. The M203 grenade flew out of the barrel, spiralling through the air towards the position. The grenade impacted about three yards to the left of the position. The explosion killed one of the hostiles with shrapnel while the others were shielded from the fragments by the corpse.

One of the lone hostile tanks aimed its turret over at the position the Marines were located as it slowly advanced without infantry support. Some of the Marines scrambled to relocate while others tried to ready the rockets at it. However, the firing of the 90mm cannon pretty much cut off any chance of destroying it. An explosion of dirt, mud and blood flew all over as one Marine was thrown against the wall of the trench roughly by the force. His Utility cap was blown off and landed in the mud next to him. He had blacked out for a moment due to the force and didn't realize he was the only survivor in that part of the trench.

The remaining Army units began to fall back towards the second line of defense, some stepping over the Marine without bothering to check him. The lone tank began to roll towards the retreating soldiers, firing its MGs at their heads that were sticking out of the trench often. The Marine slowly stirred himself awake, weakly glancing down at the blood that covered his hands. He looked around the trench to find himself surrounded by dead soldiers and Marines in various positions. He reached over and slowly placed his muddy cap back on with a grim look on his face. He carefully scoped up one of his satchel bags nearby with a plan in mind. He opened the bag which was full of C4 charges and one working wireless detonator. He carefully armed the charges before zipping it up and taking the detonator into his hands.

The tank was slowly rolling towards his trench, unaware of him being the sole survivor in it. It's focus was on the Infantry retreating towards the secondary line so the crew didn't notice when the Marines slowly pulled himself out of the trench. The tank was about less than thirty yards away from the lone Marine who slowly began to twirl the bag over his head in an attempt to throw it at the tank. Grim and mud covered his OD uniform and tan skin as brown eyes glared at his intended target. He released a yell when releasing the spinning bag in the direction of the tank.

One of the crew spotted the lone Marine out in the open and the turret traversed towards him. The bag sailed through the air and landed right in front of the tank as it slowly rolled to a stop. The Marine found himself staring down the barrel of the nearby tank and instantly pulled the detonator the same time the tank tried to fire. The C4 erupted underneath the tank, sending the powerful blast through the underbelly of the tank. The crew barely screamed as the explosive force literally disintegrated them. The tank slowly appeared to expand before tears in it allowed most of the flames and force to escape through the destroyed tank. The force of the blast sent the young Marine flying back, shrapnel slowly flying around him. He fell back against the trench and hit his back against its wall upon impact.

The Marine, having been hurt by the earlier blast, slowly lost consciousness once more. As he fell into a deep sleep, he was unaware that he began to fade away in a white glow. He simply slept while the glow made him seeming fade out of existence. To a more religious person, it seemed that he was whisked away by the Heavens themselves with that glow. However, no one was there to witnessed it with the US Army falling back to the secondary line while the invaders fell back as well to lick their wounds from the first failed offensive on that day.

* * *

Crickets. Crickets were the first thing that the Marine heard as he slowly woke up. Which was odd since he didn't think crickets would be on a battlefield. He slowly glanced around, his head slightly hurting from the battle. He took notice that he was no longer on a battlefield anymore or any field really. Instead he was propped up against some tree in some forest of some sort. He slowly glanced down at himself and noticed he was still covered in mud and blood. He slowly got to his feet while taking his carbine off his back. He carefully glanced around one more time before moving through the woods.

He kept glancing at the rather blue sky along with the treeline to find some signs of people or even where he was at. However, it seemed like the war had left the area untouched or simply the frontlines was nowhere near this place. In fact, he had no idea where he was even at this point. For all he knew, he could be behind enemy lines or something. Needless to say, he did his best on trying to find out where he was.

The Marine instantly stopped for a moment upon catching sight of a certain tree. He could help but stare at it for a few moments. It was out of place for where he was last at and last time he checked, palm trees only grew out west in California and Hawaii and down south near the coastlines of the East Coast. The sound of a ship's horn caused him to raise his rifle in the direction and revealed a clearing ahead. The Marine lowered his rifle slowly as he approached the clearing. He took a few more steps before shielding his face with his arm from the sun. It took a few moments to adjust to it but when he finally could see, he slowly let his rifle slip to his back on his sling.

Down below was a rather large fishing village along a coastline. There was a passenger ship down at the harbor unloading various people and cargo into a village that looked like something he read in books or seen in old posters and pictures. The area was massive and covered in various homes that looked like Asian in design. He was shocked by this, remaining speechless at the sight. He couldn't believe it really and yet there it was, standing right in front of him and bustling with people.

The Marine double checked the town for any noticable banners or flags of either the United States or the two enemy countries that were hell bent on its destruction. Seeing that there were no such items, he carefully made his way towards the beach outside of the town, keeping his carbine slung on his back but the safety off in case he needed it. He did plan on entering the town but wanted to get most of the blood and grime off of him so no one would freak. He trudged on for about fifty yards until his boots were moving across the sand. He carefully pulled off his pack and his vest before moving towards the water.

He knelt down in the sand and was ready to wash himself when he stared down at his hands. His hands were covered in dirty athletic tape, blood of him and his fellow soldiers and Marines, grime, and mud from the trenches. However, what got to him the most was the blood all over his hands. He slowly took in the fact that nearly his fellow squad mates, people he has been around for at least over a year or so, were all killed today trying to stop an enemy advance. Every single person he knew or made friends with gone. He was now alone once more in his life and that's what hurt the most to him.

The Marine closed his hands into fists, tears slowly running down his eyes. He sniffled a few times before roughly wiping the tears off his cheeks. Despite the heavy emotional blow, he couldn't break down now. He was still alone in potentially hostile territory in a region he didn't know. He had to simply box it up for now and look forward to the task of reuniting with US forces if possible.

After peeling the tape off his hands, he dipped them into the water for a moment before scooping up a handful of water. He closed his eyes and splashed his face with it. He sat on the beach for a moment, taking a few breaths of air before wiping his face with a rag he had in his pocket. The rag came away dirty but it did the job getting most of the dirt and blood off his face. He kept at it, wiping his arms and parts of his uniform. He did the best he could and somewhat knocked most of it off into the water. He slowly tossed the rag aside once he was done, the cloth in question being too dirty to use again.

He walked back over to his gear and sat next to it. He slowly pulled his vest and rigging on for the moment. The Marine leaned back for a moment, pulling out a canteen from his belt. He unscrewed the lid and drank from it, the fresh water running down his throat to quench his thirst. After pulling the canteen away, he let out a sigh of refreshment, glad he was able to get a moment of peace after all the chaos he went through. The horrid black and white octopus like monster bursting to the surface of the waterline scared the crap out of him more than the fucking tank showdown did.

The creature unleashed an unnatural scream which pretty much alerted everyone in the town nearby. The Marine quickly lunged for his pack for something as one of the beast's tentacles wrapped around his left leg. It tried to pull him towards the water in hopes of making a meal out of him. He dragged his pack with him in an attempt to slow it down as well as getting the item needed for this. He desperately clawed at the wooden stock in its holster, getting a firm grip on it. The beast yanked hard, forcing the Marine to let go of his pack after he finally loosened the object needed. He gripped the shotgun with both hands and slowly pulled himself into a semi sitting position while being dragged by the beast. He carefully aimed at the tentacle that was clinging to his leg and pulled the trigger.

A loud blast echoed as people began to rush towards the beach with various weapons in hand. The creature let out a scream of pain as the tentacle was blown into a bloody stump with part of it still on the Marine's leg. The Marine pumped out the spent shell and scrambled to his feet. He yanked the still wriggling piece of tentacle from his leg and tossed it aside. He aimed at the beast and blasted at its body. Another chunk was blown off while he pumped in a new shell. A tentacle lashed out with the Marine narrowly ducked down in time to avoid being struck by it. His Utility cap was knocked aside revealing his short black hair to the world. The third tentacle though struck him in the torso which sent him flying back. He felt the wind knocked out of him despite his vest taking most of the blunt force and hit the sand hard, losing grip on his shotgun. A fourth and fifth tentacle wrapped around his right leg and left arm and began dragging him fast towards the beast's wide and sharp teeth filled beak while glare at him with its blood red eyes.

The Marine used his free right hand to pull a grenade off his rig with one goal in mind. He reached over and used his left hand to unhook the pin from the nade while releasing the spoon from it. He reared his arm back and carefully aimed at the monster's open beak. He threw it and it ended up landing in the water in front of the creature who let out a scream. The Marine snarled in anger and gave a rather vulgar response to it.

"Yeah! Fuck you too!" The grenade went off underwater but due to the fact it was shallow water, the fragments did their job. The monster was literally shredded by the fragmentation grenade, instantly letting go of the Marine. It made a gurgling noise from what he could only assume was blood pouring into its mouth and throat. The Marine slowly crawled away from it, reaching his shotgun once again. He slowly got up once more, now covered in wet sand all over. He carefully aimed it at the dying beast, moving up cautiously in case it tried to make a dying attack.

He was able to get a better look at it, noting that it had some sort of bone like armor around its facial area and traces of red lines all over its body as well. He had never seen such a monstrosity before in his life nor even heard of such a creature dwelling in water. He knew that radiation and the infamous Radiation Accelerated Disease would twist people and things into mutants but nothing like this. Not that he cared at this point really since he was only a Marine and not a scientist. He raised the shotgun at its face and gave it the final blow by pulling the trigger. The heavy 4 Gauge round tore through its bone mask and blew its face apart. The Marine took a few steps back, pumping his shotgun to eject the spent shell and load in a new one.

Around the beach, people began to mutter to themselves and held weapons either at ease or at the ready at the sight in front of them. They had witnessed a stranger successfully kill a rather dangerous monster by his lonesome with a mere shotgun and grenade. They glanced at one another as the stranger simply stared at the corpse, his breathing heavy from the scare and fight. He slowly fell to his knees, holding his shotgun by the barrel in one hand as a support. By this point, the adrenaline rush was starting to fade away with a heavier aftermath. He was very ragged and out of it for now, his mind somewhat clouded.

In the crowd of people staring at the stranger, one of them stepped in front of the group with a few more people around him. The one at the very front was a rather large man with white skin, black hair and a beard and yellow eyes of all things. The one next to him was a shorter woman with black styled hair, yellow eyes as well and white skin. What stood out the most for this woman was the set of black cat ears on the top of her head. The third figure was an average sized man with short brown hair, a pair of brown rabbit ears on his head and brown eyes under his pair of clear round glasses.

The stranger slowly glanced over at the crowd, still panting from the fight. His eyes slowly widen when he took note of the animal features on many of the people in the crowd and the amount of weapons among them. He quickly scrambled to his feet while pushing his thoughts of exhaustion aside. He quickly determined how far the distance was between him and his pack which his carbine rested on. The shotgun in his hands would only get so much range and it wasn't using slugs so hitting anything at this range was a no go. Pretty much the carbine was his only option.

Every person that was armed readied their various weapons and stances when the stranger had moved into a defensive stance. They had no idea who he was but he was considered a possible threat by those around. The stranger slowly reached for something on his vest and pulled off a small canister from his vest. He pulled something on the top end and reared his arm back immediately. He threw it forward and instantly everyone started to back up or run away from it. The tall man instantly pulled the woman into an embrace as the grenade landed directly at their feet. He turned his back towards it with the intent on taking the brunt of the explosion to keep his wife safe. However instead of being blasted away by a grenade, it made a hiss as black smoke began to fill the area.

While the crowd was running away or taking cover from a smoke grenade of all things, the Marine sprinted towards his pack. He picked up his Utility cap along the way and slammed it down onto his head. He reached his pack and grabbed it, strapping the shotgun into its holster. He quickly grabbed his carbine and ran while slinging the backpack onto his back. He ran up hill and back into the jungle like area just as people began to realize it was a smoke grenade.

The man let go of his wife and rushed through the smoke to the other side to witness the stranger rush into the jungle. He began to shout at the others in plain English and they began to pursue the stranger who was probably fleeing them. They had no idea why he ran or threw a grenade at them but they planned on capturing him and finding out why one way or the other.

The Marine dashed through the jungle, nearly tripping a few times as fear entered his body. He was freaked out by the people themselves and questioning his own sanity at this point. Humans are not supposed to have animal ears, eyes or tails as far as he knew. To him, it must be a new strain of the RAD virus that are afflicting them. Either that or he just happened to encounter a tribe that happened to be cosplayers or furries. Nonetheless, he was outnumbered and outgunned so his only option was to evade the enemy. Unknown to the Marine, his feelings of fear and shock were attracting something more darker to his location. The beast was making a beeline towards the source, wanting to kill whatever it was so it could be satisfied with completing a task of killing one of its enemies.

He kept running, hearing the calls of his hunters behind him. He took a glance back for a moment to see them far off behind him in the distance but still giving chase. He turned his head back and immediately stopped in front of a brunette rabbit eared girl that looked at him in surprise. She looked around seventeen or so with her long hair and chocolate brown eyes staring at him with surprise and timidness. She was only clothed in a pair of khaki capris, a baby blue blouse, and a pair of running shoes. The only thing she carried was some satchel or box with a sling around her torso.

He must have been a sight to see with the splotches of blood, grim and now sand all over his uniform. Still he was in shock mainly by the pair of brown rabbit ears on her head. Out of mere curiosity, he reached out and felt them to realize they were in fact real. The girl's face was red from embarrassment to the point she didn't realize there was a massive beast approaching the two behind her. The Marine dropped his carbine to the jungle floor in exchange for ripping out his shotgun. He shoved the girl down with a push to her chest as the black and white gorilla creature threw its arm out towards him. He managed to fire the trigger the same time the massive arm slammed into its side. The result was him flying to the side and the gorilla's head exploding from the 4 gauge blast to the face.

The Marine slammed full speed into a tree, his head hitting it the most. He instantly fell into the dirt with his vision slowly turning black. He could barely making out the party reaching both him and the girl before everything slowly turned black. He weakly reached his arm out, whether it was out of hope or desperation he did not know for sure, but muttered what he thought was his final word.

"Not...like...this..." After that, everything went black.

 **This is pretty much a change from Team GRVL and GOR. The elements and characters from it might return in a new series but everything has been overhauled and AUed. GRVL is no more in these new stories. Greg may or may not return but instead we have a new team with a new name and character's overhauled. USBiased, formerly Armyrecon and Marinerecon, is back for now. Also I will eventually get around to other stories. For now, this will be my current project along with Generation Gate and a possible GOR Take 3 if I can get TheAssassin'sMentor back. He's a very busy guy now.**


	2. Chapter One: Awakening

**Note: Made another few changes**

 **Chapter One: Awakening**

 **Menagerie**

 **Year XXXX**

"Lance Corporal Juan F. Pineda. That name is very archaic at the most." Peter Scarletina read the metal tags on the chain out loud to Chieftan Ghira Belladonna in the kitchen of the Scarletina household. The countertop was covered in with the equipment and gear recovered from the stranger who was still unconscious upstairs in the guest bed. They had removed all of his clothing and carefully washed his entire body while treating his wounds. Upon cleaning him, the Scarletina family determined that he hit his head rather hard along without any Aura being active to prevent the blow from occurring. However when they were cleaning him up, they did observe some Aura slowly healing his wounds. Mr. Scarletina figured his daughter had something to do with that and planned to talk to her later.

"So he's military. And judging by the rank, he's probably a member of the Vale Defense Force. Though the uniform doesn't match up." Ghira commented, examining the stranger's uniform. Nearly all the clothing had smelled awful when they pulled it off the stranger. Mrs. Scarletina carefully went through them and gave them a decent washing to clean it up as well as making smell nicer to those with more sensitive noses. The BDU pants and shirt was laid out on the table for the men to examine them.

There was nothing of interest on the pants but the shirt did give a lot more clues. On the shirt were two name tags on each of the pockets. One of them said ' **US MARINES** ' while the other said ' **J. PINEDA** '. Right below his name tag on the left front pocket was a black emblem of a globe, an eagle and an anchor to form his military emblem. On the right shirt sleeve below the seams where the sleeve meets the main shirt, a flag emblem consisting of 13 red and white stripes, a blue rectangle with 50 stars in it, and finally the letters ' **USA** ' sewn right below it. On the other sleeve was a patch that was red shield with a weird 3 pointed star in the center with yellow and black in it. Right below the patch was the words ' **USA** ' like on the other side.

"Okay. There's more on these tags." Mr. Scarletina continued, reading off more from the pair of tags. "O Positive. Okay. So that's just his blood type. United States Marine Corps. Okay. So he's not a member of the VDF. However I don't know what this United States is. There's also so numbers here but I'm not sure of their significance. Finally we have just one word on the bottom which simply says Lutheran. "

"So he's not a Valean and clearly he's not Mistralian or Atlesian. And Vacuo doesn't have a formal military that has the equipment he has. So what does this make him?" Ghira asked while waving a hand towards the dining room table which had the weapons on it. Mr. Scarletina took a glance before clearing his throat.

"I guess what we are dealing with is an enigma. He's not from any country we know of, his uniform and weaponry suggests he's a soldier but who he was fighting is unknown. And lastly he seemed to freaked out and panicked upon seeing us. I assume the last was because either he has never seen Faunus before or is really scared of us." Mr. Scarletina explained, the Chieftain listening to his explanation. "Also I assumed he was suffering the effects of a draining adrenaline rush, possible shock from nearly being killed by that Kraken Grimm, and I could be wrong but prior to his feeling, I got the feeling he was suffering a case of PTSD. Though I could be very wrong in that case but the blood on his uniform suggests otherwise."

"Well. Guess he will tell us everything once he wakes up. Is that correct?" The chieftain asked, earning a shaking of the head from the rabbit faunus.

"I will be honest here, Ghira. Judging by the blow to his head and the amount of trauma he's been through, Mr. Pineda might suffer a case of amnesia. If that happens then the worst case scenario is every memory floods his mind all at once and he suffers a severe mental breakdown." He explained before thinking silently. "I'm thinking of telling Ozpin and try to see if he can assist the Lance Corporal. Maybe it will get him out of our hands and away from here."

"Ozpin? You sure about this, Peter? You think Ozpin has time to deal with him?" Ghira questioned him carefully. Ozpin was one of many enigmas in this world. Him and his supposed inner circle. Ghira really wasn't fond of people with too much power in their hands. However Ozpin was probably the best choice considering he had no political agendas that could potentially harm the young man. Ghira knew this himself but was only asking to be sure if Peter was really confident about the idea.

"Absolutely. Ozpin's academy would probably a safe haven for him. No political connections could try and take Mr. Pineda away and no government is allowed to interfere with the academies except when it involves anyone they sponsor. Add in the fact he is human and hands down the White Fang will be harassing him if he stays here with us all the time. Besides, I think my daughter may have unlocked his Aura when we were still approaching because he was healing faster than a non-Aura user." Peter admitted, frowning at the last statement. While unlocking his Aura was probably the best course of action in saving his life, Peter also knew that to their certain beliefs that a woman unlocking a man's Aura was a sign of affection and bonding. He would have to break the news to Velvet even though she probably wouldn't like it.

Speaking of Velvet, the girl in question was currently upstairs sitting in a chair next to the bed that Juan laid down in. She was keeping an eye on the stranger who, without even knowing her, pushed her away from taking the blow of a Beringel full on. Of course, had she been hit by it, she would have been knocked back temporarily but would have gotten up again and defeated the beast. Then again, 'Juan' still managed to both take the blow off the hit while blowing the head off the Beringel with his shotgun. However when the young man hit the tree, the back of his skull literally cracked open and he was slowly bleeding to death on the floor of the jungle. Upon realization that he had no Aura, Velvet instantly rushed over to him and unlocked it. The unlocking paid off by saving Juan's life.

After they had cleaned him up and placed him in the guest room, Velvet made it her task to watch over him and make sure he was recovering smoothly. Currently Juan was just stirring a few times in his sleep but seemed to have greatly improved since she and her father looked over him. She assisted her mother in bathing the unconscious man much to her father's dismay and her mother's amusement. Velvet was pretty sure that was probably the most embarrassing moment of her life with her mother, Usagi Scarletina, teasing her to no end. However, she did have to agree that Juan was certainly a very fit and built individual especially below-.

Instantly she shook her head rapidly as her face was completely red from the rogue thought she just had. She cannot believe that she just had a naughty thought of all things right next to the bed in which the stranger rested in. She turned away from the bed holding her cheeks with her hands and her rabbit ears being stiff from the thoughts. She was so focused on her embarrassment she was caught off guard when she felt a hand press against her forehead. She slowly turned her head to see 'Juan' sitting up with his chest exposed while holding his right hand against her forehead. He focused on her face for a few moments with his brown eyes before he spoke in a barely noticeable Valean accent. "Are you alright, miss? Your face is red and you feel very warm."

Instantly Velvet went from sitting in her chair to having her back against the door-frame on the other side of the room, letting out a cute yell of surprise. She was shocked by his sudden awakening, not expecting to wake up when she was in total embarrassment. Her scream had alerted her parents and Ghira down below for they came running to see their daughter sitting against the door-frame and their stranger sitting up in his bed.

"So our mysterious guest has awaken." Peter Scarletina spoke, carefully pushing up the glasses on his nose. He watched as the young man's eyes widened a bit when he noticed the ears on Peter's, Kali's, Usagi's and Velvet's heads. Peter cleared his throat to make Juan glance back at his face as he began introductions. "I'm Peter Scarletina, one of Menagerie's doctors. The girl you met prior to us showing up is my daughter, Velvet. Of course, this is my wife, Usagi."

At the mention of her name, the rabbit faunus with long brown hair and brown eyes gave a polite nod while assisting her daughter back to her feet. "Finally these last two guests are Kali Belladonna and her husband, Ghira Belladonna, the Chieftain of Menagerie."

Upon mention of his name, Ghira slowly walked over towards the bed. Juan was a bit nervous at the sight of the rather imposing figure standing over him. Ghira stopped at the foot of his head and just tossed something to the man. Juan caught the item which was a helmet that was found by Ghira and Peter in his pack. It was a combat helmet that had an olive drab cloth cover held down by the elastic cloth band, goggles wrapped around it with its own cover, and a band around the outside of the helmet. "You want to explain the story with the equipment and the incident earlier or do we have to do this the hard way?"

"Ghira!" Kali exclaimed out of shock, disappointed by her husband's actions. Ghira turned around to see his wife crossing her arms with a frown on her face. "Can't you give the poor boy a break? All he did was throw a smoke bomb at us."

"Kali. What if that had been an grenade? People could have been hurt by it or even killed." Ghira retorted, showing the concern in his eyes to his wife. Kali still kept frowning at him which caused him to sigh. "Alright. So it was only a smoke bomb. I won't give him too much for that."

"Wait! I threw a grenade at you guys!?" Juan shouted in shock while placing his hands on his head, a bit horrified about the fact he had apparently thrown a grenade at civilians. Ghira was about to say something but a quick glare from Ghira made him choose his words carefully.

"It wasn't a real grenade parsay. It was more of a smoke grenade." Ghira answered, visibly relaxing when Juan sighed in relief and let go of his hair. He glanced back down at the helmet and carefully examined it once more. "So. You gonna tell us about what happened?"

"Well I can only remember bits and pieces of everything really. I know only a few things. My name is Juan F. Pineda but everyone called me Rico for some reason. I was born on November 20th and I'm only eighteen years old." He rattled off until he mentioned that last part. At the mention of his age, Usagi leaned over to her daughter's ears and whispered something. It was probably embarrassing because a few moments later, Velvet's face was red once more while she whispered-scolded the word mother at her mom. "That's all I can remember really about myself really."

"Just as I feared. I guess he did suffer some major memory loss alright. At least he can remember some details but nothing new." With this, Peter let out a sigh as he walked over towards the bed. "I'm sorry, Mister Pineda, but you may not remember your past for quite some time depending on how you recover it. It just depends on time and yourself in general."

"Well I guess that's a bad thing is it?" Juan questioned, rubbing the back of his head once more. "Well. Can I have some clothes to put on or something? I'm sure I had some clothes on me before I hit my head right?"

"Actually we would like to study your clothing for right now for any more clues." Ghira replied, taking back the helmet from the young man. He picked up a neatly folded stack of clothing and set it down on the bed. "We did find some clothing that would be suitable replacements for you to wear for now. We'll leave the room to give you a chance to get dressed."

"Thanks...I guess." Juan replied as the adults and Velvet left the room and closed the door behind them. Instantly Juan swung his legs around and got up out of the bed. He searched the pile of clothing until he came across a pair of underwear. He pulled off his boxers in exchange for the new underwear. He quickly slipped them on followed by the pair of sand colored cargo shorts that was in the pile. He pulled a red t-shirt over his head before heading towards the door.

He slowly walked down the stairs, taking a glance at the various pictures and photographs that hung on the walls. From what it looked like, the Scarletina family had four members. The parents, Usagi and Peter, and two kids, Velvet and some boy that Juan had yet to meet. He continued on, finding himself at the door where Velvet stood waiting apparently. He raised an eyebrow at the girl who glanced over at him.

"Well, Juan. Since my parents and the Belladonna's are talking about your 'situation', I figured I would show you around the town since this is your first time in Menagerie. That and I am planning to meet up with some friends of mine anyway so I figured you could tag along." Velvet explained to him while handing a pair of sandals. The hispanic accepted them and watched as Velvet opened the sliding door and stepped outside. The rabbit faunus slipped on her sandals when she was on the doorsteps, making Juan realize it was a cultural thing or something. He quickly followed her example and soon the two began walking towards the main area of the town.

Juan glanced around and noticed that nearly all the houses were designed in the same style. They seemed a bit weird like he had seen something similar in design before, but he had no clue where. He shook his head for a moment and carefully followed Velvet as she started to explain a bit about her home. "So pretty much the continent we are on is Menagerie. It's pretty much the homeland of the Faunus. That's pretty much me and everyone else. What sets us apart from humans is our animal traits like ears, tails, eyes and sometimes other factors. However it's not too bad down here. Of course we don't have a CCT like the other four continents but we make do with messages via trade and exports."

"Wait. What's a CCT?" Juan asked, trying to keep up with what she was saying.

"Pretty much a CCT is a large tower that powers communications between the four major kingdoms. These kingdoms are Vale, Atlas, Mistral and Vacuo. They are pretty much the major powers in the world of Remnant." Velvet explained in more detail as they got closer to the center of the town. As they walked, they walked past a rather large home with two guards posted by the main door up the large steps. Velvet stopped for a moment and turned towards it. "Anyway. The massive home here is the Belladonna family home. This is where the Chieftain and his wife live. You've met them earlier so I won't go into detail. However, they do have a daughter named Blake but she's not here right now. Something about being with a friend of hers named Adam. To be honest, I never liked him. He was always very aggressive and really anti-human. I'm glad you didn't encounter him earlier. You know. Before you lost your memory and all."

"Well I guess I should consider myself lucky that he wasn't there." Juan replied, honestly a bit confused on what the hell exactly happened earlier. Like Mr. Scarletina said, it would be awhile before he could remember anything. Velvet continued on by this point, leading the Hispanic further into town. Juan glanced around at the various people passing by, noting the various differences between them. Some had cat or dog ears, some had horns or antlers on their heads. A few even had tails on their backsides which was a bit weird to him. Nonetheless he refrained from staring too much since it would make him stand out even more so than he supposedly did earlier.

"Look! It's the Stranger from before!" A squeaky voice shouted from behind and Juan suddenly found himself on the ground with a bunch of little kids climbing all over him. He felt various fingers poke him while another set of hands covered his eyes. He slowly tried to get to his feet but more of the kids just literally piled on top of him, holding him down. "Hey, Velvet! Why didn't you tell us you were showing the Stranger around town? We wanted to meet him especially since he killed that Kraken and a Beringel!"

"Well I hate to say this, kits and pups, but Juan here hit his head pretty hard and can't remember anything except for his own name and age." Velvet answered the question the cat and dog faunus kids asked while trying not to laugh at the predicament Juan was in. He stuck his arm out towards Velvet with one of the kids literally wrapped around it in a hug. Velvet just giggled at this and simply watched him try to figure his way out of this mess.

* * *

"Alright! Easy with that shipment! Don't want anything exploding now would we?" A man on the docks hollered at the crane operator moving the heavy shipping containers off the cargo ship. The man directing the crane operator was in basic civilian clothing such as black shoes, tan cargo pants, a decorated ball-cap, and a black collared button up shirt. However he was not a mere civilian since he had on coyote colored body armor, black knee pads, combat gloves and a mean looking assault rifle slung behind his back. His cap, sandstone in color, had a patch on the front which spelled out **USEC** to those around him. All over the dock and cargo ship, multiple armed men that belong to USEC were patrolling the area or assisting with the unloading of the Dust shipments.

The United Security (USEC for short) was a PMC organization that was hired by various organizations to handle with security, ship defense, assaults and other military actions that could not be covered by the various military forces around the world. In this case, these USEC PMCs were part of the group which was hired by the infamous Schnee Dust Company to defend their cargo shipments that were inbound to Menagerie. The reason for this was the constant White Fang protests and recent attacks on any shipments arriving to Menagerie. A live example would be the multiple Grimm masked figures standing outside the chain fence gate with multiple contractors standing by with weapons hot in case they tried to storm in. They held up picket signs like ' **Schnee's go home!** ', ' **Humans go home!** ', or ' **Keep your damn Dust!** '. One sign even had on it ' **USEC? More like USUC Schnee Dick!** '. Some contractors shook their heads at this sign or simply said nothing as they let the crowd shout at them.

While things were under control with unloading and crowd control, up on the ship's main deck were two people watching over the area. One of them was a tall white man in basic USEC clothing and gear. The other was an average height but rather thick figure who frowned at the currently blocked off gate with disappointment in their eyes. The USEC contractor looked over, taking notice of the figure's mood with a quick glance. He looked away for a moment when they made eye contact, knowing exactly what would happen if they kept up with the eye contact. "No. You are not going off the boat even if you want to meet some new people and get to know the locals. Your father made me promise to keep an eye on you anyway."

The figure remained silent but kept staring at the USEC contractor for a bit longer. The USEC did his best to look away and be unmoving but unfortunately he did have a fatal weakness when it came with this person in question. All it took was a quick glance over at the figure's 'bambi' eyes and he gave in. He let out a sigh and turn to the figure. "Alright. Fine. You can go into the marketplace. Besides, we ain't setting off until tomorrow since your father wants to get USEC's relations with Menagerie improved. Just make sure you meet me back here around five. Your father is putting a lot of faith into you trying to get the Chieftain to allow us to operate on their homeland."

"Thanks, Dantes! I will stay out of trouble!" They replied with a slightly cheeky tone as the figure rushed down towards the other side of the ship. Dantes let out a sigh and glanced up at the sky.

"Heavens. Forgive me for my troubles since the boss might not." He muttered before heading down towards the gangways to assist with crowd control. The figure in question actually ran over towards one of the mooring lines connection to an unoccupied part of the docks and slid down it with gloved hands, noting that the line was tense due to the figure's weight. Right before they could hit the tie off point, the figure leapt into the air and landed on the pier safely with a loud thud and some dust kicking up. They waved the particles aside as they proceeded to walk towards the town center, unhindered by the White Fang protests.

* * *

Juan, after being literally dog-piled by the children for a good five minutes, was finally able to break free of his imprisonment with the kids clinging to his arms, legs and one sitting on his shoulders. He let out a sigh and tried to walk toward Velvet best as he could. It was hard to move around with kids all over him and clearly Velvet was getting entertainment from it. Suddenly the kids instantly climbed off of him and starting running back down the street, shouting about lunch time and all.

"I guess you are popular among the younger kids now. It's not very often we have humans here. Much less strangers like you." Velvet commented as Juan brushed the dirt off his legs and shorts. He glanced about at the Australian accented girl and smirked.

"Gee. Thanks for being so helpful there, Velvet. Next time that happens, I will tell them that you have candy on you and let you fend them off yourself." He replied with a grin, making Velvet almost pale at the thought of being pinned down by a bunch of little kids. "Anyway. You wanted to show me around the town some more."

"Right. We're almost at the town center which is home to the marketplace." Velvet reminded herself, quickly grabbing Juan by his hand and pulling him along. The Hispanic nearly fell over from the pull as he did his best to keep on his feet. Within a few moments, Juan and Velvet were walking by open air stands selling various items or fruits. Some of the vendors offered out their goods or wares to the passing teenager and the young adult but both declined politely due to not being interested and the mere fact that Juan had no idea what the currency was nor did he have any money. Finally they reached the center of town which was like a bazaar from old films. People exchanged goods or money for produce or product. Kids runned around the area while adults shopped for items. Nearby the town center was a large line of docks and off to the far left was the beach in which the folks of Menagerie encountered Juan.

Juan stopped for a moment after he noticed something happening at one of the docks. There was a large and loud crowd of Faunus in weird masks shouting and holding up signs at one ship which had a cargo ship docked at it. He tapped Velvet on the shoulder and pointed it out when she glanced at him. "Hey, Velvet. Can you tell me what's going on down there?"

She looked to where the Hispanic pointed, immediately sighing when she realized who it was. She gave a sad smile before grabbing Juan's arm. "It's a protest against a company. I will explain more later but it's best if we avoid that area. The White Fang have recently been more openly hostile to humans despite the Chieftain's laws. For now, you shouldn't have to deal with it. Come on. I will introduce you to my friends."

With that, Velvet led Juan towards a small restaurant with seating inside. Juan, out of some habit, stepped ahead of her and got the door for her. Velvet gave him a polite smile and thank you before she stepped inside, followed by Juan. Instantly Juan was greeted by the smell of decent food and the sounds of various conversations and work coming from the kitchen. The interior was similar to that of an old diner of retro times. They had the booths, the stools next to a long bar counter, a jukebox in the corner and even several waitresses dressed in the old uniforms of the 50s. Several people were either sitting at the bar counter or in the booths and waitresses carried large trays of food around.

"Hey, Velvet! Over here!" A voice cried out followed by an arm from a booth waving in the air. Velvet quickly lead Juan with her as they approached the booth. Sitting on one side of the booth were two teenage girls around Velvet's age with visible faunus traits. The first girl was a rather short and tiny looking teenager with long grey hair, pale skin, blue eyes and a set of mouse like ears sticking out of her head. The other girl was rather thick figured with black hair, dull gray eyes, pale skin and a set of cow ears on the side of her head. The mouse faunus cleared her throat before speaking again. "So have a seat you two. Velvet. You didn't tell us you were bringing along a guest with you. Particularly a rather interesting one."

"Sorry, girls. I was so caught up with assisting Juan here that I forgot to call you guys about it." Velvet apologized to her friends as she and Juan sat on the other side of the booth. Juan offered his hand out to greet the two who promptly accepted the handshakes as Velvet began introductions. "So Juan, this is Mikine Nezu and her girlfriend, Yukiji Ushiwaka. Girls, this is Juan Pineda, the stranger from the beach. Unfortunately he is suffering from amnesia so go easy with the questions."

"First things first though, Velvet." Mikine started off, glancing at Juan before pulling her girlfriend into a hug. "Yukiji is off limits to everyone, you included. Do you understand?"

Juan instantly raised his hands up in a gesture of surrender. "I get it. Museum rules. I can look but no touching."

"Good boy. Now I will tell you a few things. Velvet likes reading romance novels when she's alone and loves walks along the beach both in the morning and near sunset." Mikine rattled off while Velvet blushed at this. The rabbit faunus reached over and covered the girl's mouth while Juan processed this new information. She leveled a glare at the mouse faunus before speaking.

"Really, Mikine!? As if I need more embarrassment from him today!" Velvet exclaimed at her friend while Yukiji simply smiled at this. She glanced over at Juan who simply gave a shrug at this. She gave him an understanding nod before speaking.

"Sorry about this, Juan. Mikine really wants to help Velvet find her a boyfriend or a girlfriend but the poor bunny is a bit shy when it comes to dating and all. Then again, her brother, Orion, has the same issue as well. I think it's hereditary honestly." She explained, allowing Juan more time to process this. While this was happening, Velvet was pulling on Mikine's cheeks while chewing her out moreso.

"Oh..." He trailed off for a moment as his mind processed this. A few seconds later, his eyes widened and he spoke once more. "Oooooohhhhhh! No! She and I aren't interested in each other! She was only showing me around town really. Nothing more. Besides, I have no real interest in romance since I have no idea what my real personality was before I lost my memories. What happens if I turn out to be some sort of train wreck or a very abusive person?"

"Ah. That makes sense. However, if you were really a horrible person before your memory loss, wouldn't you retain the habits you previously had?" Yukiji questioned, earning a shrug from Juan.

"Honestly I have no clue since I'm not a doctor. I guess I will ask Dr. Scarletina and see if he can answer some questions on the subject." Juan replied, watching as Velvet finally sat back down while Mikine rubbed her tender cheeks on her face. Velvet turned to the others and gave an apologetic look to Juan.

"Sorry about that. Mikine is pretty much nosy for a mouse faunus. She didn't mean to bother you with such pointless facts. Isn't that right, Mikine?" Velvet glared coldly at the girl who simply shrugged.

"Whatever you say, Velv. It doesn't change the fact I was only helping you out." She defended herself before earning a scoff from the rabbit faunus.

"Oh please. Why would be interested in Juan who I only just met today?" Velvet retorted, only to remember that Juan was sitting right next to her. Instantly she put her hands up and waved at him in a panicked way. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to offend you in anyway!"

Juan just held his hand up and began to reply earnestly. "Hey. It's okay. I understand what you mean. So relax, Velvet."

At this moment, a dog faunus waitress walked over with several menus under her left arm and a tray of four glasses of water in her right hand. She placed the menus in front of the four young adults first before setting down the glasses of water. Juan gave her a polite thank you to which she gave a slight smile before carrying the empty tray back to the kitchen. The girls waved at the waitress before going back to the next conversation at hand.

"So Velvet. Did you get your acceptance letter from Beacon Academy or not yet?" Yukiji questioned to which the rabbit faunus pulled out a letter from one of her pockets. She carefully opened it and showed to everyone on the table with a rather large smile on her face. Instantly all three girls let out squeals of excitement before instantly chattering about the letter.

"Oh my gosh! That's great, Velv! You made it into the big leagues now!" Mikine cheered for her friend, clapping her hands together at such pleasant news. The only one not clapping or cheering was Juan due his lack of knowledge of the world.

"Congrats, Velvet...I guess." Juan awkwardly added, unsure if he should say anything more or not. The three glanced over at him when he spoke, making him feel really uncomfortable now. After a few stares from Mikine and Yukiji, he promptly caved in. "Actually I don't know what Beacon Academy is so I don't know if it's really a good thing or not."

"Legit! You've never heard of Beacon Academy before?" Mikine exclaimed at this statement, earning a reluctant nod from Juan. The mouse faunus was shocked by the confirmation since everyone had heard of Beacon Academy at least a few times in their lives. "Oh wow. I guess you did hit your head pretty...hard..."

Mikine slowly trailed off when she glanced behind the booth to see several White Fang grunts enter the restaurant. None of them were armed but they had a reputation of being assholes to those not assisting them as well as getting a bit rough with humans. She instantly ducked her head back down and whispered over to Juan and Velvet. "Try not to panic but we've got White Fang in the building."

"Wait. Who is the White Fang?" Juan whispered back, unaware that the faunus in question could hear him. A few of them began to walk over, one of them bumping into a waitress carrying a tray of food on purpose while taking the pitcher of tea from her tray. They purposely strode over to the teenagers' table and the one with the pitcher dumped all the cold iced tea all over Juan's head. The man turned to be greeted by a man wearing a weird white and red mask.

"We're the White Fang, human." The man retorted with venom dripping in his voice. Juan could feel the glares the men were giving him from underneath their masks as they circled around the booth. "Now what the hell are you doing in Menagerie?"

"Don't know. Just ended up here. However I think the better question is why did you dump that drink over my head. I've never even met you or your group anyway so why harass me?" Juan inquired, using napkins from the booth's napkin holder to try and clean the mess up as best as he could. Instantly he was grabbed by his shirt's collar and yanked out of the booth by the White Fang member. He was brought the face level with the masked man who may or may not have growled at him.

"Really? Ignorant much, human? Need I remind you that all the Faunus' problems are from you humans. Judging by your voice, you are probably a Valean so I won't give you too much trouble for now. However I want you out of my homeland soon." The man warned the Hispanic man, getting closer to his face. "Is that understood?"

"Hey, man. Calm down. I really don't know what a Valean is or whatever but I have no money whatsoever. So I just can't up and leave. So can you please let me go already?" Juan answered honestly, really wanting to get out of this confrontation. However, the White Fang wouldn't have it and he tightened his grip on Juan's shirt collar. He literally pushed him down to the floor roughly and held him down. Several faunus nearby decided to find the chieftain to get help while others watched from the booths and tables, afraid of getting involved

"I don't care, human. You will leave tonight or you will not survive the night." The White Fang growled at him just as Velvet leaped from her seat along with her two friends.

"Knock it off already. You don't want to get into hot water with the Chieftain do you?" Velvet warned the man to which he returned with a scoff. One could imagine the eye roll the man gave under his grimm mask before turning his head to face Velvet.

"Oh hop along, little rabbit. This is none of your business." The White Fang replied while his buddies started to grin. That was until a shadow was casted over them and the cracking of some fists was heard from behind. The group slowly glanced up to see a large imposing figure seemingly tower over them clad in a black cloak.

"I believe that you are disturbing everyone here, boys. So why don't you apologize for your rude behavior to the entire restaurant and leave so everyone can enjoy a nice and quiet meal?" A feminine voice asked from the figure, causing the White Fang to slowly back away from the figure and away from Juan. The Hispanic quickly scrambled back over to Velvet before turning around to get a better look at the scene. The expressions on the mouths of the White Fang were that slight fear and worry. The figure crossed her large arms under her cloak and gave a small smirk. "Well, boys. What will it be?"

"Oh screw this! I'm not dealing with the Human Beringel Girl right now!" One of them bursted out, instantly running towards the side exit. His buddies did the same as they scrambled away at high speed out of the restaurant. Several patrons were laughing at this while the waiting staff simply grinned and quickly began to clean up the mess that they made. The figure that scared them off crossed her arms with a frown visible on the lower part of her face.

"That was rather rude. I'm not a Beringel." She muttered underneath her breathe, watching as Velvet along with her friends assisted Juan out of the diner and back to her family's home to help clean him up. She was gonna say something more but decided against it. After all, she wasn't leaving Menagerie until she finished up her job that her parents entrusted her with. So she would just catch them later.

"I'm terribly sorry about what happened back there, Juan! I didn't realize they would do that inside the diner!" Velvet apologized profusely to which Juan simply nodded his head and tried to calm her down.

"It's fine, Velvet. There is no real need to apologize. It's not like you were the one who dumped tea over my head anyway." Juan replied, really wanting her to stop apologizing at least thirty minutes ago. However, apparently Velvet was either very insecure or really scared of him since she continued apologizing. Either way, it was getting on his nerves now. "Seriously though. If you say sorry one more time, I will flick your forehead right now."

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorr-Wait. What?" Velvet stopped for a moment when Juan moved his hand over and gave a hard flick to her forehead with his middle finger. She quickly let out a little yelp, rubbing her forehead while Juan moved his hand away from her.

"I warned you." Juan commented, earning a pout from the girl. Honestly Juan would be lying if he didn't think the expression on Velvet's face was cute. However, he pushed that thought to the side since he was only a stranger to both her and currently himself. After all, he didn't want to complicate things by developing one personality when his real one was AWOL. "Besides, I really wanted you to stop nearly a half hour ago."

"Well s-" Velvet started to say before Juan held up his hand with his pointer and middle finger at the ready to flick her again. This made her think of new words to use instead of sorry. Velvet gave a small sigh and lifted her arms up in exasperation. "Alright. I get it. No more apologies for this incident."

"There we go." Juan replied with a slight cheerful tone in his voice. He lowered his hand once more and the two kept walking. Within a few minutes, they finally reached the Scarletina household where Mrs. Scarletina was waiting for them. She glanced over to see them walking up the cobblestone walkway and waved at them.

"Oh Velvy! Mr. Pineda! We are gonna be heading down to the Chieftain's household for a dinner event along with assisting with negotiations between Menagerie and the United Security firm operating here. So please take some time to relax and get ready. The event is formal so do dress nicely you two. Also, Mister Pineda. You can have your clothing and hat back. They are upstairs in the guest room you were in this morning along with another set we found within your pack. The shower is in the same room as well. Its the door next to the closet. Also there is a set of formal clothing I found from Ochre's closet you can wear tonight."

"Thank you, Mrs. Scarletina." Juan replied politely with politeness, earning an eyebrow from the woman.

"Oh my. It seems you are not only friendly but very well mannered as well. You better do your best not to let this one get out of your sight, Velvy." Mrs. Scarletina commented, seeing her daughter's face flare with embarrassment once more.

"Mother!" She cried out indignantly as Juan just walked by with a look of confusion on his face. He proceeded inside, leaving the two females outside to talk. He went up the stairs to find the guest room with a set of OD clothing and a cap in a folded pile on top of the bed along with another set of clothing, more formal looking than the other set. He quickly pulled off the dirty clothing and placed it in a nearby laundry hamper before going into the bathroom to shower. He started up the shower, allowing it to heat up while giving him a chance to examine himself in the mirror.

His body was slightly muscular but it was clear that Jaun looked somewhat thin despite these present muscles implied. Across his body, he could see various small scars and markings from old wounds while even having a large burn mark on his back. He felt the burn marks for a moment, trying to recall any memory of where he got them from. Much to his frustration, he couldn't remember anything about the scars. He shook his thoughts aside and proceeded to get into the shower.

"Hey, Velvet. Can I have a word with you for a moment?" Mr. Scarletina inquired the moment his daughter entered the kitchen. The man was currently sitting at the table with a newspaper folded up in his hand. Most of Pineda's gear had been stored elsewhere and out of the way at the request of Mrs. Scarletina who wanted her countertop clean.

"Yes, Daddy." She answered, walking over to sit down at the table next to him. He carefully placed the newspaper down before turning to his daughter. The look in his eyes told her right off the bat it would be a very serious discussion.

"Velvet. I want you to be completely honest with me on what I am about to ask you." Mr. Scarletina started off, earning a sharp nod from his daughter. He slowly took a deep breath before asking his question. "Did you unlock Mister Pineda's Aura before we found you two in the forest?"

"Yes, father. I did unlock his aura. However I did it because he was nearly on death's doorstep after taking a blow for me!" She replied in her defense. He let out a sigh and placed his hand on his forehead for a few moments. After recollecting himself, he looked back at his daughter and continued.

"While I understand that you did it out of your love of life and kindness, I'm afraid I failed to mention the significance of someone unlocking the aura of another person of the opposite gender in our culture." Peter replied, carefully pushing his glasses up on the bridge of his nose. "Velvet. I have told you that our family follows some of the older Mistralian traditions, have I not?"

"Yes, father. You did bring that up several times before, but what does this have to do with unlocking Juan's Aura?" Velvet inquired with concern in her voice. Already she felt like she wasn't gonna like any of this one bit. Her fears were concern when her father spoke again.

"Well according to the traditions of Mistral we follow down here, unlocking of one's Aura is considered a deep sign of affect and a partnership if not done by a parent or even by a professional teacher. In other words, you pretty much marked him as a mate of some sort." Peter replied, instantly covering both his rabbit ears and human ears before Velvet could shout out loud.

"I DID WHAT NOW!?" She shrieked loudly at her father, her face completely red from embarrassment of the implications of what she did. She couldn't believe what she heard but at the same time, she knew her father was not a liar. The Rabbit Faunus slowly pulled her legs up onto the chair and pressed her head against her arms as she tried curling into a smaller form.

"Now now, Velvy. Calm down for a moment here." Mr. Scarletina instantly replied, getting up and holding his daughter close to him to calm her down. "The thing is that only Faunus with honed traits and such can detect the imprint you left on him from unlocking his Aura and the imprint should fade away within a year or so. So let's try and keep this a secret between us alright?"

"So I'm pretty much made him my mate and gonna be like this for a year!?" She cried out in embarrassment, now wanting to curl up into a hole and remain there forever. Not only did she imprinted on him unknowingly, but the imprint would last an entire year or so much to her shame. She moaned into her arms before speaking into them. "I swear this has been the worst day of my life ever..."

"It's okay, sweetie. It's okay. Daddy will work something out to solve this issue before Beacon. I promise." Her father spoke softly, soothing her by rubbing her upper back and her hair slowly. He didn't know how to make this work, but he would try his best as a father to make sure this issue would be resolved before he sends Velvet off to Beacon. For now, he would have to just deal with it one day at a time.

* * *

After completing his shower and drying off, Juan just glared at himself in the mirror, only clad in a pair of skivvies he found folded up on the bed next to his uniforms. He kept trying to stare at himself and get any recollection of his past memories, often thinking very hard to the point his face would scrunch up and turn red. He finally gasped for air and stopped, his head nearly hurting from the hard thinking. He panted for a few moments, collecting himself while clearing his head. He then glanced back at the mirror with one final glare.

"Who am I?" Juan asked himself, knowing what the answer would be. Nothing. All he knew was that he was some sort of soldier, a Marine according to his uniform, his own name, his age, birthday, and month, but not the year. Everything else was forgotten or hidden within his head like it was locked and the key was lost or thrown aside. Honestly it just made him feel frustrated to no end.

Shaking these thoughts aside, he left the bathroom and walked over to the bed. He paused to examine the two neatly folded piles of clothing that Mrs. Scarletina said were his. The first set were clearly combat fatigues since they were completely OD in color and no way would be considered as formal wear. That and he didn't want to offend the folks here whatsoever.

He glanced over at the other pile of clothing and slowly went through them. It was a military formal uniform with a long sleeved midnight coat with red trimming, a standing collar and two red patches on either sleeve, a white web belt with gold waistplate, a plain white shirt, sky blue trousers, a pair of white gloves, black dress socks and shoes, and finally a white barracks cap with a golden globe, eagle and anchor in the center. He carefully examined the patches on the sleeves which had a yellow chevron above a set of cross rifles.

While examining the coat, Juan noticed a letter sticking out of the coat pocket with his name on it. He laid the coat back on the bed and removed the letter to read it. He unfolded it and read the words imprinted on it by someone's handwriting:

 _Rico,_

 _For the last time, stop leaving your damn Dress Blues at the old Shad Barracks. It gets old having to remind you to pack your uniform so thus I took it upon myself to stick it into your combat pack and leave the note. Good luck on the frontlines and try not to get killed._

 _\- Stevens_

Juan raised an eyebrow for a moment, wondering why he was called Rico since his full name was Juan Pineda. Nonetheless, the letter gave some answers to a few things. It confirmed the fact he was some sort of soldier and a frontliner by the sounds of the letter. He was stationed at a place called Shad and the formal wear was called Dress Blues. However, this was not enough to assist with finding any memories. In fact, the name Stevens didn't ring a bell to the Hispanic. For now though, Juan closed up the letter and placed it into the pile of folded formal clothing for now. He glanced over to see the third set of clothing Mrs. Scarletina. With that, he began to get dressed.


End file.
